Dinosaurs Before Dark
From Magic Tree House
Dinosaurs Before Dark is the first book in the Magic Tree House series. It was written by Mary Pope Osborne and illusrated by Sal Murdocca. It has sixty-eight pages and ten chapters. It was published and released in 1992 It was re-released by Scholastic Inc. by arrangement with Random House Inc. in 1995. It was printed in the United States. The book is succeded by The Knight at Dawn.
Contents |
[edit] Synposis
[edit] Discovery of tree house
While walking through the Frog Creek Wood in Pennsylvania, a girl named Annie discovers a flying creature. She runs to her brother, Jack, and tells him that there is a monster. Jack, being one of reason, does not believe her. Annie then runs off to get away from the monster. After a few seconds, she discovers a mysterious tree house in the wood's tallest oak tree. Her and Jack enter and find a whole collection of reference books, even one about Pennsylvania. Jack opens a book about dinosaurs, finds out that the monster is really a Pteranodon, and wishes to see one for real. The tree house then whisks them off to the time of the dinosaurs.
[edit] The adventure begins
Annie climbs out of the tree house after seeing the Pteranodon sitting on the ground. She goes to pet it, much to Jack's disappointment, and makes friends with it by naming it Henry. It is about this time that Jack discovers that they have traveled back in time. Then they see a Triceratops on top of a nearby hill. They clim back into the tree house. Jack pulls out the book about dinosaurs from his backpack and discovers that it probably will not harm them, so they climb back down the rope ladder and go out to meet the animal. It lopes away when it sees them. Jack and Annie start to walk after it. Then Jack spots a medallion on the ground with a letter "M" engraved into it. This means that someone had been here before them.
[edit] The T-rex
Next Annie discovers a valley full of dinosaur eggs and baby dinosaurs. When Jack arrives he finds a large duck-billed dinosaur standing over her, mad at her being close to her babies. She is able to calm the dinosaur down by pretending to chew the grass. Then Annie makes friends with the dinosaur. She takes it off to find some magnolia flowers to eat. Jack opens the book and finds out that the dinosaur is an Anatosaurus.
[edit] Back home
Next thing they knew, they were back in the Frog Creed Wood. They discovered, much to their surprise, that time had not passed at all. Everything was as it had been before they had left. The two kids climed down the ladder and went home.
[edit] Contents
- Into the Woods (1)
- The Monster (6)
- Where is Here? (13)
- Henry (18)
- Gold in the Grass (24)
- Dinosaur Valley (33)
- Ready, Set, Go! (43)
- A Giant Shadow (48)
- The Amazing Ride (54)
- Home Before Dark (61)
[edit] Characters
[edit] Species of Dinosaurs
[edit] Audio Book
Main article: Dinosaurs Before Dark (audio)
Dinosaurs Before Dark has been put onto a compact disk for people who would rather listen to the story than read it.
[edit] Research Guide
Main article: Dinosaurs
The non-fiction companion to Dinosaurs Before Dark is the research guide Dinosaurs. It was written by Mary Pope Osborne and Will Osborne and was illustrated by Sal Murdocca. It was published and released in 2000.
[edit] Critical Reception
The book was accepted with mostly positive reception. Many people did and still declare it a most read for first chapter book readers. The book is now in almost every library that has children's books in the nation.
